Local league for this round has challenged us by not allowing formations, CADs only. 2k cap. In a world where I don't have access to tetras, what's my next best option for marker lights. Pathfinders? Drones? A mix?

Honestly without formations nor Forgeworld nor a Commander in the Drones both are pretty much equal to each other.Pathfinder are more reliable but they also die a LOT faster and might suffer from having no Line of Sight due Markerlights being Heavy.So it's pretty much personal preference.Go with what you feel better with or what fits your list theme better. The advantage of Drones would be though that once your opponent killed some of your Mark'O units Drones you could let him join the other unit. I for one however found them too unreliable with just BS2 so they were not really fun to play for me.

Of course there are some more exotic choices as well but imo they aren't that good. - Stealth Suit Shas'Vre with Drone Controller and 2 Markerlight Drones - Sniper Drone Team with multiple Marksmen (about as squishy and mobile as Pathfinder, however BS5) - Skyrays

Sniper team on a Tidewall is not too shabby. You get a 3+ cover, some mobility, markerlights than never miss and majority toughness 4. Expensive, but since Droneports are 60pts and come with a unit of Marker drones (normally 56pts), you get the bonuses to the Sniper team essentially for free.

Sniper team on a Tidewall is not too shabby. You get a 3+ cover, some mobility, markerlights than never miss and majority toughness 4. Expensive, but since Droneports are 60pts and come with a unit of Marker drones (normally 56pts), you get the bonuses to the Sniper team essentially for free.

Can you get a Tidewall without using a formation though? And would it fit his playstyle and the rest of the army?Those are kinda important factors as well ^^

I think i'm gonna go with Dual CAD, each Commander joining a squad of drones with 2 of his own, with the controller. A skyray. And then I'll see if I can find another piranha to have it "function as" a tetra to supplement the one I've already got.

Pogman wrote:I think i'm gonna go with Dual CAD, each Commander joining a squad of drones with 2 of his own, with the controller. A skyray. And then I'll see if I can find another piranha to have it "function as" a tetra to supplement the one I've already got.

Why dual CAD for that though? You can take two Commander in a single CAD, you know? ^^

Pogman wrote:I think i'm gonna go with Dual CAD, each Commander joining a squad of drones with 2 of his own, with the controller. A skyray. And then I'll see if I can find another piranha to have it "function as" a tetra to supplement the one I've already got.

Wait, you are allowed to use tetras? Go to an Eldar friend, borrow as many jetbikes as you can, and fill the board with count-as tetras. Always better. With Markmanders you can cost-efficiently drown a single enemy unit in markerlights if you want, but do you really need that many markerlights on a single target? You probably don't. And if you do, nothing prevents you from doing so with a bunch of tetras anyway. But normally, you want the ability to mark up several different targets, and Markmanders are a heavy investment (85+8+x*14) that don't let you do that.

The idea with the dual CADs is to have as many suits as possible in a FSE CAD for Obsec, while everything else is in the regular Tau CAD to avoid the tax.

And yeah, I'ma try that. Unfortunately i'm kinda new to the scene and I don't have anyone I can rely on yet to just borrow some bikes. Gonna try though, i'm sure someone at league night will have something they're not using. otherwise, may have to use some scenery lol...

As it stands right now, I'm thinking of running with this. Only things deep striking are fusion blaster suits and Frag Projector Suit. And the only thing I can't reasonably fudge from my collection is the second tetra.

Unicornsilovethem wrote:Wait, you are allowed to use tetras? Go to an Eldar friend, borrow as many jetbikes as you can, and fill the board with count-as tetras. Always better. With Markmanders you can cost-efficiently drown a single enemy unit in markerlights if you want, but do you really need that many markerlights on a single target? You probably don't. And if you do, nothing prevents you from doing so with a bunch of tetras anyway. But normally, you want the ability to mark up several different targets, and Markmanders are a heavy investment (85+8+x*14) that don't let you do that.

Well, what I was thinking, and please correct me if i'm wrong, is that I wanted to use the markerlight saturation on the primary targets, the things that need to be dakka'd down. Every other markerlight source will go towards secondary and tertiary targets. I mean, in a world where I just don't have access to a ton of things that can pose as tetras. I could probably swing one, maybe two, but I'd rather not depend on having to borrow minis multiple weeks in a row.

4 man teams of pathfinders provide multiple small targets that are more or less not worth attacking. They can hide in almost any terrain available. And they can target with 2-3 successful markers. They also are not stuck shooting the same thing. 3 teams, 3 targets. 2-4 ML is enough to do what needs to be done. 2 for no cover and 1-2 for BS.

At closer range, pulse carbines and overwatch can also be used. They can also hold objectives.

They have a scout deployment that can be used.

They work wonders in a hunter cadre.

They are low cost.

------Mark'O is none of these things.

it is more defensive, but also more costly.

It has maneuverability, but I find it works best for when you NEED the marker lights to land. Not for general support.

I often cloud with 2 (natural) - 6 ( XV + drone team)

More takes to much room, makes it a bigger target, or is wasted hitting one target.

Pogman wrote:II'll see if I can find another piranha to have it "function as" a tetra to supplement the one I've already got.

Go to an Eldar friend, borrow as many jetbikes as you can, and fill the board with count-as tetras.

While I would not support a flood of "counts as" models (the dimensions are not always accurate), Tetras are, IMO the best source of mobile marker-lights barring the Drone-Net and outside of the obvious Mark'O. *But* they lack an offensive presence.

Sure, you can bring a Skyray to use as a dedicated marker platform, and a good source of anti-air, but other than its early game (Alpha Strike) capabilities, I find that its utility tapers significantly late game after being reduced to a single TL SMS that has to shoot the same target as the networked Marker Lights. Furthermore, unless it is parked in ruins, it's an easily prioritized target (for its uncommon anti-air firepower), which means it is not scooting around to find an optimal firing angle for those two marker lights or grabbing objectives (like Tetras).

The Sniper Team is another (better) option, especially when paired with the Tidewall drone-port because it basically guarantees that your marker-lights hits. At 108 points (cheaper than a Skyray), a drone-port + marksman nets you 4 additional, (separate and non-scoring) marker drones, and a mobile platform that gives your immobile marksman 6" movement every turn, plus a 4+ cover save that is improved to 3+ because of his Stealth. Additional Marksmen cost 13 points and you can fit a total of five on the drone-port. So, with two marksmen you can get a mobile marker platform that has a 3+ save without having to sit in ruins or jink, which fires the same amount of marker lights as a Skyray (with a better BS that may as well be twin-linked since you can re-roll the only way it can miss) an additional 4 MLs that can shoot (albeit poorly) at something else, and three sniper drones that can, although they have to shoot at the same target as the Marksmen (just like the SMS on the Skyray), Jump out from behind the drone-port, shoot, then thrust move back out of LoS. All that for 6 points more than the cost of a Skyray. Those 4 little Marker Drones that come with the Drone-port also offer a backup squad of MLs for your Mark'O to command.